Thomas Jefferson

Merwin, Henry Childs, 1853-1929Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 166K words
Chapters: 17

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Thomas Jefferson by Henry Childs MerwinAuthor: Merwin, Henry Childs, 1853-1929,Language: English, Class: E300: History: America: Revolution to the Civil War (1783-1861), Release Date: Jun 28, 2010

Editor's review

This biography of Jefferson by Henry Childs Merwin belongs to the tradition of popular works on early American historical figures. Written relatively early, its prose has the unhurried narrative quality of biography from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its value lies not in offering the latest scholarship but in showing how an early author understood and evaluated Jefferson, a key figure in the founding of the United States: from his political career and ideas to his personal character, the book reflects the concerns and value judgments of its author's era. For readers who want to understand figures from the founding period of American history, or who are interested in how historical writing has changed, this book is a text well suited to comparative reading. The electronic edition comes from the public domain, making the original text easy to consult at any time and also usable as English-language reading material. Note that the historical facts and evaluations in the book may no longer be fully accepted by contemporary scholarship; it should be read with a critical eye and used alongside other modern research.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General history readers interested in the founding of the United States and Jefferson's life
Learners who want to practice reading original English texts and prefer clear narrative prose
Specialist readers studying early American biography or the history of historiography
Teachers and researchers who need free public-domain English historical sources

Not a good fit for

Academic researchers seeking the latest contemporary conclusions on Jefferson
Readers who need a Chinese translation or do not wish to read the English original
Rigorous history readers who expect extensive notes, references, and archival citations

Reading tips

Read a modern general history of Jefferson or an encyclopedia entry first to establish background, then read this book, which makes it easier to notice the author's period perspective.
After each chapter, jot down the author's evaluative statements and compare them with mainstream contemporary views.
Readers with limited English can start with the electronic edition's preface and table of contents, then choose chapters on his political career for close reading.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a newly written contemporary biography of Jefferson?

No. The author, Merwin, was born in 1853, and the book was written relatively early; it is an early popular biography. Its evaluations carry the coloring of the author's era and should not be treated as the latest research by contemporary academic standards; it is better read as a comparative text showing how historical writing has changed.

In what language is the electronic edition, and is it suitable for Chinese readers?

The original book is in English and comes from a public-domain e-book platform. Chinese readers with some English reading ability can read it directly; those with weaker English are advised to first use Chinese-language materials to learn about Jefferson's life, then try selected chapters.

What background knowledge is needed before reading this book?

It is best to first understand the American Revolutionary War, the basic facts of party divisions in the early national period, and Jefferson's career before and after his presidency. With this background, the book's narrative is easier to follow, and the author's emphases and omissions are easier to judge.

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About the author

Merwin, Henry Childs, 1853-1929 Author

Henry Childs Merwin (1853–1929) was an American author about whose life relatively little is publicly documented, and his specific educational background and professional career still require further verification. Judging from the two works held in the collection, his writing interests centered on biography and American history. Thomas Jefferson deals with the life and political career of the American founding father, while The Life of Bret Harte, with Some Account of the California Pioneers is a biography of the writer Bret Harte that also touches on the activities of early California pioneers. Both works focus on historical figures, tracing the course of their lives and presenting the context of their times in a documentary, narrative style, and may be of interest to readers concerned with nineteenth-century American literature and history.